On Mon, 12 Apr 2010, hitekgearhead wrote: > I know this has been thrown around a bit before but I could use a > little assistance. > > I just purchased a crimper and a couple sets of dies. I bought some > cheap BNC and TNC connectors to practice with along with some RG-58A/U > cable. > > I bought 3 different sets of dies. One of which is for RG-8 size > connectors so I am not really concerned with that yet. The other two > dies have hex crimp sizes of .324, .255, .215, .100, .068 and .215, > .184, .068, .042 Obviously these two dies duplicate the .215 and .068 > sizes.
.215 is what I use for RG-58, .255 is used for RG-59/LMR-240/RG-8X. I think .68 or .100 is used for the center pin of either of those, but it's often connector dependent. The .042 crimp will be for the smaller varieties of coax like RG-174's center pin (or perhaps the micro-coax they use in the U.FL connectors.) If you look around, you'll find that you've equipped yourself to crimp anything from RG-6 all the way down to RG-174, and certain types of Fiber Optics. I'm a firm believer in investing in good tools. I think you've made the purchase of a lifetime, so to speak. You won't have to replace that crimper until you either wear it out or need to replace the jaws. > Basically I am not sure what size hex to use for the above stated > RG-58A/U and BNC and TNC connectors. .215. > > Also, I have a question regarding stripping the cable. I am not going > to be doing high volumes of cables, but probably will be doing them on > different size of coax. Would you recommend a stripper or will a razor > knife suffice. If you're making a lot of cables, the stripping tools they make are excellent for speeding coax preparation. Most of them make cable prep easier than cutting copper pipe. > Lastly, and relating to the coax strippers: Don't different > connectors, even on the same type/size of coax, need different > stripping lengths? This would probably translate into quite a few > different strippers for different cables and connectors, no? You can kinda eye-ball this using a nice pair of strippers, a sharp knife, and some careful cutting. Just remember that you can't allow either piece to touch and that you don't have to strip to entire center conductor. Also, the shield should usually be cut back to just long enough to interface with the shield ring, preferably the entire length of the shield ring. I usually strip about 2" of RG-58 of the outer jacket, cut the shield down to 1/2" from the jacket, then start eyeballing to figure out where I have to strip the inner conductor to get it out of the end of the center pin. Or into the center pin, as the case may be. -- Kris Kirby, KE4AHR Disinformation Analyst
